Miscellaneous Tid Bits (Targeted Offers, AOR, Australia, Staples GC, and 5% Activations)
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Is it just me or does summer seen to fly by extremely fast? Yes I know summer doesn’t actually start for 4 more days, but June feels like summer. Anyhow here’s what has happened these past few days…
American Express Targeted Offers
I got home yesterday to find four three letters in the mail from Amex (one was from the First Bank of Omaha). They were offering me the following (sadly I couldn’t fit any of them into my latest AOR):
- Amex Gold Business Card – 75K sign-up bonus. That’s a good offer for that card, but this is the third offer I’ve had for this card in the past few months. They must really want me to sign-up for it!
- First National Bank of Omaha Amex – No sign-up bonus. I’ve never heard of this card before, but without a sign-up bonus it’s not worth our time.
- Amex Green Card – 25K sign-up bonus. Again, that’s a good sign-up bonus for this card. The regular bonus is only 5K, which is very meh.
- The last one was from Amex, reminding me I can get a free $50 by using direct deposit. I plan on having a tutorial for that soon. Stay tuned.
My Latest App-O-Rama (AOR)
I decided to do my AOR yesterday morning, since my Amex Platinum 100,000 membership rewards offer was about to expire. It was kind of a spur of the moment event, because I had an alarm remind me that my Platinum offer was going to end soon. So, I quickly thought of my future trip (see below) and picked cards accordingly. My FICO score at the time of this AOR was 745. I applied for the following:
- Chase Ink Bold – Declined. This application immediately went to pending, which I expected. So, I called Chase’s reconsideration line and asked if they needed more information from me to get the card improved. They did, of course. I gave them my information, and voilà
I was approved! Nope, just kidding. They told me they couldn’t approve the card right now due to my business (blog) being so new. I called a few more times to try getting a different answer – it didn’t work 🙁 - US Bank Club Carlson Premier – Approved. This is my first US Bank card and my first Club Carlson card. Surprisingly, I’ve never been to a Club Carlson hotel, but I’ve heard great things, so I figured why not. I also plan to stay there during a leg of my next trip.
- Chase Hyatt – Approved. Again, we plan to stay a few days in a Hyatt Place during our next trip and figured we might as well get two free nights.
- American Express Platinum – Approved. This was the main driving factor on my latest AOR. I wanted this card for the free Boingo wifi and for the 100,000 membership reward points. I would’ve been very surprised, if I got declined on this one. Whenever a bank sends you a pre-approved offer in the mail 9 times out of 10 you will be approved for that card. The only reason you wouldn’t be is if your credit drastically changed since they sent it.
Our Next Trip
If you didn’t piece it together from the title, Jenni and I are heading to Australia come August. We are flying business class to Adelaide, Australia for about 5 days then business class to Sydney, Australia for about 6 days. After that we will fly home in business, while stopping in Shanghai for a night. I’ve never been to Australia, so if you have any suggestions on things to do leave them in the comments. We will be staying in Park Hyatt Sydney while in Sydney. The hotels for the other locations are still up in the air.
Staples Gift Card Deal
I posted this deal on my deals page the other day, but I figured I would post it here as well. From 6/15 – 6/21 you can get a $20 Visa prepaid card, via easy rebate, when you buy $300 in Visa gift cards. If you have an Ink card or just want easy points/miles/money you should get in on this deal. You can find the rebate page here.
Activate Your 5% Cards
The next quarter is upon us. It’s time to activate your 5% cards (Dividend, Freedom, and It).
Citi Dividend
You can activate your Citi Dividend through an email they sent out to cardholders. They haven’t released any other sign-up yet. If you haven’t received the email yet, I suggest watching this page.
Chase Freedom
You can activate your Chase Freedom here. If you prefer, you can login at chase.com and activate through your account. Either way, make sure it gets done before July 1!
Discover It and More
You can activate your Discover cards here. Like the Freedom, if you prefer you can activate your card when you login to your account.
